Beyond the Frame: Reconstructing the Spatial Logic of the Double Screen in VR

The “double screen” ( chongping , 重屏) in traditional Chinese painting is not merely a depiction of furniture but a recursive spatial device that negotiates the complex boundaries between reality, representation, and illusion. However, conventional digital heritage presentations often flatten this nested structure into static 2D images, making its spatial logic and liminal qualities less perceptible. To bridge this gap, this paper proposes the Volumetric Threshold Model (VTM), a design framework that reconceptualizes the painted screen as a volumetric boundary and traversable threshold in Virtual Reality (VR). Drawing on art historian Wu Hung’s (巫鸿) theory of the screen’s threefold identity, we implemented a VR system that reconstructs the painting Bamboo Courtyard Pin Gu using 2.5D semantic layering and dynamic occlusion management. Through formative, iterative, and quantitative studies, we show that this approach supports a measurable shift in user perception: users transitioned from “viewing an object” to “inhabiting a nested space,” supporting perceptual and behavioural conditions associated with the traditional viewing practices of “gazing” ( wang , 望) and “wandering” ( you , 游). This research contributes a culturally grounded framework for translating recursive pictorial narratives into embodied immersive experiences, offering new insights into how visual depth cues can reactivate the spatial semantics of Chinese art.